The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-09

Il
was one of three great lawyers-Sharkey,
| Harris and Ellett-who framed the code
| OF 1887, in which many important changes
were made in the laws of Mississippi, and
| 1t can be truly said that he has written his
| impress upon the laws of Mississippi, not
| only in the opinions which he pronounced
as high court Judge, but in the statutes
which as codifer and legislator he orig.
mated and helped to enact. For, If | re-
| member correctly, he was chairman OF the
| judiciary committee of the Senate when
| the code of 1857 was enacted.
In 1866 he entered on his duties as
| judge of the old high court of errors and
appeals. and in 1867, being unable to take
the "iron-c clad oath" which was required
of him by the military governor OF the
State, he resigned, moved to Memphis and
became a citizen of Tennessee. Mlssls-
sippi gave to you an honored son, and for
twenty years you of Tennessee have known
him, have loved him and have honored
him as we of Mississippi did before
you.
In 1886 you made him chancellor of this
district, and the ease, dignity and pro-
found learning with which he admins
tered the duties of that Office won for him
the confidence, respect and esteem or law
yers, litigants and the whole body OF the
people; and the vast concourse OF mourn
ers who recently gathered In silent tears
around the open grave showed that 1t was
| no holiday parade gotten up for display,
but the spontaneous outpourlng OF the
deep and heartfelt grief of p stricken peo-
pie.
When | first heard that Judge Elicit
had been selected to deliver the address OF
welcome to the President, | am frank to
lat + th1,,xbt be Hid tn at
popular style of oratory best suited to such
an occasion, and that a mistake had been
made in his selection. But as l listened to
him and heard sentence after sentence fall
from his lips, so clear, SO forcible aud so
eminently appropriate to the occasion, l
felt that had misjudged the man. L had
known him for years. | had heard him
often before iuries, before chancellors and
supreme Judges, | had heard him In the
State Senate, and on the stump, but never
knew the reserve power and resources OF
the man until / saw him rise to the dig
nity of that great occasion. | never real
lied the full stature of the man until saw
and heard him face to face and measured
him intellectually with the President OF
the United States. He fell dead, stricken
with heart disease, almost Immediately
after closing the greatest speech OF MS lie.
To us who are left TO mourn over his loss
it was a sad bereavement. But to him
who was prepared to go and who had
passed his three-score years and ten, 1t
was a great and glorious termination OF
long and well-spent life. 1t was sudden
death, but not that sudden death which
overwhelm the unrepentant sinner, un-
prepared to die, and against which we are
taught to pray in the litany of the church
to which he belonged. He had made his
peace with God and man and stood wait
ing the call of his Master, with his lamp
trimmed and filled, ready for the voyage
through the dark valley OF death to the
bright fields OF heavenly rest which lie
spread out beyond it. de had Just well
coined to the South the first President who,
for more than a quarter OF a century, was
acceptable to him and his party. The
glad shouts of rejoicing thousands ap..
plauding his successful performance OF
this pleasing duty were still ringing IN his
ears Like Lord Chatham and ex-Presi-
dent J John Quincy Adams, he died with
his harness on, and like Nelson at lraial-
gar, his spirit was borne from earth to
heaven amid the joyous shouts OF friends.
alt is a fearful thing
To see the human soul take wing
In any shape-in any mood
But when it must be done, it is better II
were done quickly. ''Let me not die by
inches'' was eloquently said by the gifted
Preston. 1t was the oft-repeated wish OF
Judge Elicit, and his Heavenly Father
heard and answered his prayer. He was
a Christian in the highest and fullest
sense of the word. But his Christianity
was free from every semblance of harsh
ness. and was of that charitable, genial
and happy kind which teaches men to be-
come as little children and to approach
the throne of God with the smiling face
and trusting confidence of happy child
approaching a kind and loving father.
Judge Elicit was full of charity, gentle
ness aud sweetness of character, and Judge
Hammond, in his chaste and beautiful ad-
dress at our bar meeting, we'll said that
"the sternest man may well unite feminine
sweetness of character with the manifest
virtues" These qualities were united in
Judge Elicit In remarkable degree. The
manliness of his character was evidenced
by the great order and decorum always OBJ
served in his courtroom. This was not the
result of severe discipline on his part, but
of the respect which his presence COM
manded There was no harshness, there
was not even stiffness in his court. The
older members of the bar were easy in the
dsSuTd1C6 lHat every IiSht anu OOdAsSoy
due them would be freely accorded them,
and the Youngest and most timid felt that
in the chancellor he had an elder brother,
who would kindly extend helping hand
and lead him safely through places OF dill
| ficulty and the great decorum In his
court was due to the fact that each man
| felt he was in the presence OF manly
spirit and a master mind. The feminine
| sweetness of his character was best dis
played in his association with ladies and
| children, and was most beautifully Illus
| trated in almost the last words OF his dying
speech. When he had concluded his well
come to the President aud desired to ex-
tend an equal welcome from the ladies OF
| Memphis 10 his wife, instead of turning to
| her and putting her in the unpleasant po-
sition of being publicly gazed at, while she
was being publicly addressed, with that
refined gentleness which adorns as much
the masculine as the feminine character,
| he requested the President to convey to his
wife the welcome greetings which he bore
| to her from the ladies of Memphis. And
now when we look back to almost his last
words, invoking blessing on the wife of
| the President, We seem to be reading an
| epitome of his own beautiful life. He
said "May all her ways be ways of pleas
Il
| this we are reminded of him for all his
ways were ways of pleasantness, and his
paths were eminently paths OF peace. But
/ he is gone. No more shall We listen to his
| timely tests and his merry laugh In the
social circle. No more shall we hear his
CHEEKY witticisms as We sit around the les
tive board at bar supper. No more shall
his sweetness of character win the admira-
ton of the gentler sex. No more shall his
manly utterances on the hustings arouse
patriotic emotions in the breasts of his fell
iow-men; and no more shall his cogeni
reasoning and sound Judgment win the ad-
miration even of counsel against whom he
decided. He has passed from earth to
heaven, and sits in the place appointed for
the righteous and just. We write down
the births and deaths of our family In the
Holy Bible as solemn record, and VIC
trust that when we are gone some loving
hand will make up the final record for US
So it is meet, right and proper that tht
legal births and the deaths of each mem.
Der of the bar be placed by some friendly
hand as a solemn record on the minutes o.
the COURT. This last sad service mus
now be performed for one whose career II
ended and OF whom the record must nov
be closed.
With the hope that his spirit is hover
ing over us, and that his gentle face Il
smiling upon us. and with q heart full o.
| all the love and affection that youngel
can feel for an elder brother, / now asl
that these resolutions touching the lie
death and character of Henry Thomas El-
lett be spread upon the minutes OF thin
honorable court.
Wanted Mamma 10 Know II
Little Willie had had the subject Of
q ra,,r hr.,4bar ~. sister mentioned t(